The recipe

Take one large dollop of Kevin Bacon flavoured Six Degrees of Separation; add a dash of the Wikipedia game. Simmer over a low heat for several hours. Pour in an assortment of endangered animals, then sprinkle liberally with endangered plants. Dish up, and serve to an eager audience…

Understand? No, I didn’t think you would so let me explain. This instalment of Six Degrees plays on the Wikipedia game where you are challenged, for example, to get from Wikipedia’s page on custard to the page on Mount Everest by clicking only on the internal links on each page (I managed custard to Mount Everest in 4 links).

So, by clicking only on the thumbnail images in the ‘Related Species’ section of ARKive, is it possible to get from a shark to a gorilla in six steps? And don’t forget, the only rule is that you CANNOT press the back button once you have clicked on a link! Here goes…

Spring has definitely sprung here in the northern hemisphere, and what better way to celebrate than with a bit of spring-themed wildlife linkage. First, let me start by saying a big congrats to Mitchell for his brilliant Madagascan solution to my last challenge – you really nailed those sifakas!

Spring in your step?

Tender new shoots are starting to poke their heads out, wobbly little lambs are beginning to take their first steps and frogs are busy making frogspawn. If you’re as pleased to say goodbye to winter as I am, then this springtime game is definitely for you. For this challenge I want you to finish at frogspawn, but where do I want you to start? I think with the aptly named springbok! Here’s my attempt at a six-step spring-themed chain…

Springbok

I know they’re not the quintessential springtime species, but surely you can’t get better than a springing springbok? Another even-toed ungulate (member of the order Artiodactyla) is the red deer. Famous for their rutting and roaring behaviour, red deer have their calves from spring to early summer.

Bored at work? Looking for a distraction? Look no further as it’s time to play ARKive’s Six Degrees of Separation. Let me start by congratulating our winner from last time – Catherine Hayward! Well done! Any chain that involves Darwin immediately gets my seal of approval, especially as it’s Darwin’s 202nd birthday this month.

A Madagascan twist

In honour of the BBC’s fantastic Madagascar series that’s showing in the UK at the moment, I thought my next challenge should involve only those species that occur on this fantastically bizarre island. Nick Garbutt’s recent ARKive blog highlights the bleak future that Madagascar’s wildlife currently faces, with only 7-8% of the island’s forests remaining. I thought I’d take the opportunity to showcase some of the many weird and wonderful Malagasy species by getting from the ferocious fossa to the stupendous silky sifaka in just six steps. Here’s my attempt….

Fossa

Being the largest carnivore on Madagascar the fossa can pretty much have its pick of animals to eat. One particular delicacy is the common tenrec. Spikey but tasty apparently!

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Common tenrec

The common tenrec is also known as the tailess tenrec. In contrast, one Malagasy species that is famed for its striking tail is the ring-tailed lemur.

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Ring-tailed lemur

Ring-tailed lemurs spend about two-thirds of their time up in the trees. One tree you certainly won’t find them hanging out in is Grandidier’s baobab – the trunk of this tree is too smooth for them to be able to climb it!

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Giant striped mongoose

Deforestation means that much of Madagascar’s wildlife has become isolated in pockets of remaining forest. The giant-striped mongoose is only found in a very small area in the southwest of the island, which is also where the blue-legged mantella is found.

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Blue-legged mantella

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Silky sifaka

Over 80% of Madagascar’s wildlife is found nowhere else in the world, so you’ve got plenty of bizarre and brilliant species to choose from! My fossa → silky sifaka chain is a bit mammal-heavy I think, so I challenge you to use less furry and more feathery or scaly species in yours!

If you need some inspiration then don’t forget to watch Madagascar on the BBC, and use ARKive’s ‘Explore by Geography’ to discover the wildlife of this wonderful island.

Welcome to the first instalment of ‘ARKive’s Six Degrees of Separation’ for 2011. Hopefully you’re all feeling suitably rested and relaxed from your holidays and are ready for a challenge with a bit of twist!

But first, let’s get the formalities out of the way. The winning trophy (if I had one to give away) for successfully navigating from the graceful manta ray to the comedic secretary bird in the last instalment goes to…….Dovie E! Well done!

Although I was also impressed with the way Ben managed to work Spiderman and a jam sandwich into his solution! I have failed to include any superheroes or wheat-based snacks in my solution…

Raggiana bird of paradise

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Hooded seal

Hooded seals are migratory and follow the movement of pack-ice. What does everyone think of when they hear the word migration? Wildebeests!

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Blue wildebeest

As “herds of wildebeest sweep majestically across the plains”, they may well bump into the odd…

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Secretarybird

Now for the next challenge, and this time around I thought I’d change the rules a bit. Social networking now means that most of us are connected by only three degrees of separation, according to recent research. So, to make things a bit harder I challenge you all to get from the coconut crab to the Galapagos marine iguana in just three steps. I’ve chosen nice ‘beachy’ species as I thought everyone could do with a dose of sun, sea and sand to combat those January blues.

I’m sure you all know the drill by now, but just to make sure - post your chains as comments on this blog and I’ll get back to you with a winner next time.

In case you missed the last instalment, the ARKive team have been having some fun putting a wildlife twist on the popular ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’ game, in which you link actors through their films to Kevin Bacon in just six steps.

Last week I challenged everyone to get from the narwal to the pika in six wildlife-themed steps, using only those species that are on ARKive. Well, the chains we received were pretty varied, with steps involving Ricky Gervais, David Attenborough, and the faeces-eating behaviour of young elephants – lovely!

After much debate we have decided that the winner is….cue drum roll….Mike T! Congratulations Mike, it was the cunning use of the magpie’s Latin name that swung it. Although I have to disagree on one point – pikas are much cuter than chinchillas! Obviously there’s no right or wrong answer, but here’s the solution that I came up with:

Narwhal

Due to their long single tusk, narwhals have long been associated with unicorns and in fact, part of their Latin name (Monodon monoceros) actually means unicorn in Greek. The stuff of legends also, dugongs are thought to be the origin for many mermaid tales.

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Dugong

Dugongs are the only entirely marine mammal to feed exclusively on plants, a trait that means they are sometimes referred to as ‘sea cows’. Another cow-named species is the….

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Cow parsley

Cow parsley is insect-pollinated and is often favoured by hoverflies, who have small mouths and therefore like the small flowers of the cow parsley.

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Wasp hoverfly

The aptly named wasp hoverfly, thanks to its body shape and black and yellow markings, is a wasp mimic. Wasps are social insects (of the order Hymenoptera), and so is the…

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American pika

Getting the hang of it now? This weeks challenge is to hop, step and jump from the spectacular manta ray to the comedic secretary bird in six furry, scaly, or feathery steps. Again, post your chains as comments on this blog and we’ll decide the winner.